Hot Rods Ever add up your receipts?

well over $28,000 And not finished

 

I keep all my receipts. They are around here someplace....If I ever find them I'll add them up, maybe. I do keep a basic running total in my mind, if I could retrieve that info, I'd tell you, but I can't find that either....

I've found its easier to make money in this hobby if you really don't know what it cost. I've come to the conclusion that if I sell the old car for enough money to make the new car roadworthy, I've made money. The good times derived from the old car exceeded the cost of building it, and the good times that will come from the new car will exceed the cost of building it. Cash received from the old car is seed money for the new adventure. Gene

 

Bought it for $16500, can't built it for that.

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I keep
All of
My receipts
And a
Log of hours on every
Car. Not for selling them, just to
Know why it took to
Build it. The hobby of building Cars is not cheap! My cars range from 200 to a little over 1000 hours and anywhere from 4000.00
To 45000 I. Parts.


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I've a up to date excel table with everything so far . My other car's cost to build pales into insignificance by comparison. Distance and currency fluctuations do add up over time.

 

Never gonna add 'em up. Look how much $$ folks throw away on interest alone when they finance a car. ****, gone. My car hobby is money in pocket = parts. They're worth what I pay, and I still have 'em, so nothing lost. Plus the ''collection'' makes me happy. How 'bout the folks who spend big bux on fine dining? Great if that's your thing, but not for me.

 

After adding mine up I wondered what the car was actually worth. I did 85% of the work myself and the parts don't come close to the total value. My time is worth something, but for me it is free. I get the joy of working on my car and that to me pays benifits you can never recover.

 

No, just watch what i spend and try to prioritize. Also when the prices for a new or used part seems way to high, i divide by 5 and ask myself "if it was ~1970 would i pay that?" answer is usually yes. unless it is your business it may be best not to track every penny and hour.

 

I never add up receipts unless it is for something I am working on for someone else. Like Bruce says, I just try to get as good of deals as possible and spend as little as possible. Four kids keep me from spending too much...

 

I knew going in I would spend a lot more than I could just buy it for. When you come to terms with that, it's easier to shell out the cash


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Receipts are for new parts, I like to buy a lot of parts, keep what I need and sell off the rest. If you keep reinvesting and selling unwanted parts you can wind up with a car for little money. Bob

 

Sometimes I wish I would just buy one done and just personalize it but I do not want to fork over that big amount of cash so a little bit at a time seems easier.

 

And a MS Access data base on cars I keep with part numbers, make and model the part came from, warranty info, where I purchased the part and any special note about mods to fit my application.


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You really are fooling yourself on that one. A lot of the time you will sell off unwanted parts for less than you bought them for and think you are doing ok.
Very seldom will you make money that way.

 

I heard that. I have been playing at this hobby for a very long time and the only money that I can honestly say that I ever made at it was working on someone else's ride.

 

Hmmmm...........I have kept a lil folder on each car with all receipts.......I did add them all up once just to show the family and kids about how much I had tied up in my hobby in case The Man above called me in from the garage............I had a bit of a queezy feeling when the figure got over 300K and I still have a ways to go yet. I try not to think of it anymore in terms of money as i have more years behind me than in front of me so i will enjoy the hobby till I am gone.

 

Even if you never add them up I'd suggest keeping the receipts from at least the major components of each project you build. Guys have seen my suggestion for keeping a "build book " on each project for years and that still holds true. Especially so when you will have to walk a vehicle through inspection to get a ***le and registration after you get it up to the point where you can have it inspected.

Very simply the receipts and build photos and notes in a binder are valuable ***ets when the inspector has a question as to "where you got the engine or other major component. The copy of the ***le to the donor car and the weight slip and paperwork from the s**** yard you hauled the hulk to showing that they got it with ***le shows where the engine trans and rear came fro T. Legal, not stolen. The pictures that you took of the body when you found it at the swap meet plus the receipt show where it came from.
In some states that stack of receipts might prove that you don't have a rig valued at a Barret-Jackson Saturday prime time prime time price but a simple build that you have less than a third of that in.

Unless you are one of the slap them together cheap and make a fortune on them brigade the build book with receipts lets the buyer know what you put in the build and helps in figuring out what they might need if and when a part or piece needs to be replaced years later. Digging out the info that came with the car and sorting though it to find out what clutch the builder put in it beats the hell out of posting a "What the hell clutch have I got in it" thread on the HAMB to figure out what was put in it several years ago by the original builder.

My wife could give a damn about what I spend on the 48 or any other project as having a running hot rod or custom has meant that she gets to go on weekend road trips to fun places for most of the 45 years we have been married. I've never spent food or rent money on car parts for a hot rod or custom and the bills get paid Years ago some old biddy in My wife's home town tried to give my mother in law a ration of **** about my always working on old cars at my house and often having one torn apart in the driveway. My mother in law's answer was "at least he doesn't have his *** planted on a bar stool in Waco". That woman's son was famous for holding down bar stools and chasing women while his wife sat at home.

Hell we all know that unless we are in it to make money and know exactly what we can put in a rig $$ wise and come out ahead that we will never make a dime on most rigs we build for ourselves and sell so we can build the next one.
I work with a guy who has a 40K truck to pull his 20 K fishing boat to fish for Salmon on his days off to put in the freezer. He never writes down the cost of those fish he puts in the freezer but I'd bet he could buy the same amount of fresh fish off the fishing boats on the coast and save a lot over what he spends on fishing every year. Eating a piece of salmon he bought at the store and grilled wouldn't be as good as eating a piece of the salmon fillet he grilled for a potluck yesterday though.

 

I keep a book on each car, my 37 Willys = $4500.oo and 26 T is in progress and wont tally it up till its on the road.
I find it interesting to see what things cost over the years like when I bought a 32 roadster body for $150.oo in 1980. JW

 

i add TO my receipts, not add up my receipts

 

exactly. ^^^^

 

I don't want to put a price on my p***ion, so no.
I don't care what it costs, only care about how I'm going to find the cash to afford the latest part, or project.
If I knew what I'd spent on cars in my time on this rock so far, I'd probably quit, and take up knitting, or sqaredancing.

 

$ 31.5000 on a 32 ford vicky hotrod before i was married the second time.
I finally gave the car to my son to stop the bleeding

 

NO......................................I've only sold two cars in my whole life and regret both sales...

 

I have several builds going (OK, usually waiting more than going) and I have a folder of receipts for each one. I don't necessarily add them up because I don't really want to know but at least I have them if I need them for reference or to help set a price.

I buy parts ahead of time (swap meets or hamb cl***ifieds) if the price is cheap or fair. I use a word do***ent to keep track of what I buy, who I bought it from, what project it belongs to and my landed cost. Without this list, I wouldn't even be able to remember what the hell I own! This works well for me and I don't start a build until I have almost everything I need, other than the stuff I can buy anytime.

 

I did for a while. It was just to painful, especialy if I had to sell something,

 

CAR CLUB
1st Rule: You do not talk about receipts.
2nd Rule: Is like unto the First.
3rd Rule: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, drag him over to Quickee Mart and turn him over to the Honda club.
4th Rule: If dog is not hungry and Sheriff is not nailing anything to front door, your financial decisions have been wise and anything remaining should be spent on car parts immediately.

 

I have an exel spread sheet for major stuff and keep all receipts for part numbers.
Looking at the bottom line is very bad, especially if my wife sees it!

 

Never added up receipts .......and I'm a retired CPA......have folders for each car in top drawer tool box to toss receipts into, but only for future reference as needed......if receipt is for a maintenance item, ie cost of a new transmission, this does not add to the market value of the car......if you're building a car, not everything spent has a receipt, ie just traded a car bud for a new unused set of rear disc SSBC complete and wouldn't have any idea of value to attach, other than online price from SSBC, but then that's not what I paid.......only "for sure" issue I'm aware of is that it's much cheaper to buy a built car than to build one......but then the offset is that building one gets you exactly what you want.......must confess I'm always totally impressed when a car bud can retrieve specific information from an impeccable filing system on his cars.......I always need to go hunting ........

 

This ^

 

I have saved about 90% of them, but as the old adage goes,
"Ignorance is bliss".......... prefer not to look.